Man accused of serial rapes allegedly posed as rideshare driver

Harvey Schmidt |Thursday, March 01, 2018

Miami Florida. Joe Raedle

Morales is accused of sexually assaulting seven women while posing as a ridehailing driver in areas throughout Los Angeles County, including Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Alhambra, from October 2016 to January 2018.

Alhambra police reported that they began investigating the case when a woman reported being raped on December 30, 2017, after being picked up by a rideshare driver in Los Angeles.

Alhambra police then linked Morales to several unsolved sexual assaults throughout L.A. County over the previous year, Carr said.

Authorities said Tuesday that Morales is from Santa Clarita, California, which is north of Los Angeles.

But by the time Nicolas Morales was arrested Friday, investigators had connected him to seven sexual assaults, dating back to 2016. Prosecutors persuaded a judge to set his bail at $10.3 million.

In May 2017, Los Angeles police released a sketch of a rape suspect who committed a similar attack on the same day as one of the rapes listed in the felony complaint filed against Morales.

Above all, he said, don't get into a vehicle driven by a stranger who offers you a ride, even one who claims to be a rideshare driver. He was also accused of using a knife in the attacks, according to officials.

The prosecutors did not mention which ride-hailing services Morales allegedly posed as a driver for, nor did they talk about how he found his alleged victims.

Morales has been charged with a total of 27 felony counts, including nine counts of forcible oral copulation, six counts of rape, five counts of sodomy by use of force and four counts of sexual penetration by foreign object, the release stated.

A neighbor told news outlets that Morales told her that he was an Uber driver and that he seemed "like a nice guy".

If convicted, the 44-year-old could face up to 300 years in prison and lifetime sex-offender registration.

In June, an Uber driver with a felony record was suspected of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an intoxicated passenger in Los Angeles.

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